I've been through some pretty different life experiences growing up and as a result was diagnosed with severe anxiety, clinical depression, panic and social phobia years ago. Through years of trial and error, medications, psychiatrists, cognitive behavior therapy etc you would never know by looking at me now that I had major life experiences with this a long time ago. I've learned to manage this successfully and from countless medications I can honestly say it helps to a degree but should always be temporary as often times it makes the problem worse and or creates a new one (side effects you may be experiencing, addiction etc)
Today I've felt the best I've ever felt for a long time now through accepting when hard times hit and knowing this is a normal grieving process and managing stress levels through ways I've learned work best for me.
Working out vigorously is a great and rewarding feel. Diet and nutrition. Strict structure is strangely satisfying. Positive reinforcement socially and challenge wise, good support system that you can talk to (friends, family - for myself I didn't find therapy truly authentic but I was placed in a category where therapy does not work on me anyway) Reading and educating myself on the topic. Staying away from substances or alcohol. Mind you I do have my vices (red wine every now and then in moderation) Maintaining regular sleep patterns.
Key thing mostly is balance and positive reinforcements of things in your life to keep you from dwelling.
In that same respect it is also important to "dwell" to a degree to make peace and allow your self to feel through the experience and honor whatever life experience this is bringing. It's important to feel and go through that pain. Medication blocks this and if you're not maintaining progress through talk therapy as long as you're actively progressive about getting to root of it I think you will feel better soon.
Do not quit cold turkey, always check with your doctor when stopping prescribed medication of this fashion. It's important to be clear and open to what your body is trying to tell you. Better ways (yoga, meditation etc) Of course all of this does take time. I used to work night shift and go to school in the morning and I literally had no time to wait to "feel better" and jeopardize my schedule. I took what I needed to survive but eventually it only made my symptoms worse and created new ones I hadn't had before. Through my own trial and error I'd suggest going a natural route if you are able to. You will eventually feel better if you persevere while maintaining a good healthy balance.
Let me endorse Adriana's points here. She's a wonderful woman if you ever have the honour to visit her; moreover, if you ever wonder whether people can recover she is living proof (and me too a bit lol) that you can beat this, or at least manage it. But balancing things out helps a ton. In fact a great book is "the panic attack recovery book"
http://www.amazon.com/Panic-Attack-Recovery-Step-Step/dp/0451200438 (p.s I am not affiliated with book, authors, amazon etc on this recommendation lol). It was recommended to me by a friend and it describes a lot of what Adriana says - your autonomic nervous system gets bruised, and cutting back, or cutting out, alcohol, caffeine, and getting proper rest and nutrition is a start (but likely not the only thing you need to do). Then coming to terms with the reaction as just being part of what you are, and stop fearing it, and it will diminish.
It's the damnedest thing to know there is nothing that can harm you now but you're brain runs wild like there is a gun pointed to your head. And you cannot figure out why your brain is acting that way, and it almost feels like a semi - out of body experience. I found the CBT techniques of 'thinking cool blue waters" as a total waste of time, and in fact made it worse because you were always aware of what it was you were not trying to think about (its called "ironic processing' which means the less you try to think of something the more you will). But that does work for some folks. And for those who've been through trauma, you can't stop thinking of it, it is always there, and it hangs around in your mind, and in your dreams and sleep. So you look at it rationally, you realise you're not having a heart attack or going to puke, that you're not trapped like you think you are, and there is nothing you can do about the past and that you're not going crazy.
I have PTSD issues related to....lets say traumatic events that people often have this reaction to from about a dozen or so years ago. And for a while I could barely leave the house, could not be in enclosed places, hyper vigilant, etc without going into panic mode. I was on a tricyclic antidepressant, plus alprazolam for when it got real bad...I had a hard time eating too, so afraid of the body's reactions that I lost appx 30 pounds in a month. The medicine was a life saver at the beginning, to at least allow you to get your feet back under you, and then that allows you to proceed with the lifestyle changes, and make the appraisals and re-appraisals to sort out the cognitive adjustments you need to help tame that beast within. And it is a beast for sure. But when you look the beast in the eye, which requires those cognitive reappraisals, then you begin to diminish it...and you begin to retake the reigns of your life.
So I think one needs to not just consider the medication, but you have to deal with the cognitive aspects, plus the lifestyle issues. Thus any strategy to conquer this requires progress on all three fronts. I think people get stuck when they ONLY try one strategy. Integrate them. I am totally off medications, although I carry around alprazolam which is reassuring but I don't take it. I still drink, but I no longer get drunk. Funny, I began to relapse after an event retriggered things about 2 years ago - and relationship failed, nightmares every night, started up the medication etc - but then w the new found freedom to visit - and then visiting the right sp's - actually helped me a shit ton more than I ever imagined (particularly the former Naughty Nuru ladies, which was where I usually hung my hat on a GTA visit lol) and because of that I have been able to shut down the medication (except for carrying around the alprazolam) almost immediately after I started (thank you, in chronological order, laila, jessica steele, barbie, trisha, lina, cleo knight, elle ambroise, cici palmer, and adriana chambres lol). Now you know why I so much sing the praises of these wonderful ladies - they were all more, much more, than simply a quick release to me, but because they offered so much more in their minds, style, and demeanour to allow me to get lost with them for a while - its like their elegant graceful calmness (even adriana exudes calmness!) just reboots my system, even whilst we're doing a seriously good job of elevating our heart rates lol.
